By Vatican News
Cardinal Charles Maung Bo of Myanmar called for a renewed understanding of peace and legitimate defence as he addressed an international conference in Rome examining the Catholic Church’s approach to Gospel nonviolence.
Speaking to participants at the conference Unarmed and Disarming Peace: The Church’s Emerging Paradigm Shift to Gospel Nonviolence, Cardinal Bo stressed that nonviolence should not be understood as passivity or as a withdrawal from the responsibility to protect people.
Rather, he said, nonviolent strategies can offer an effective response to violence in a world increasingly marked by armed conflicts and new military technologies.
Hosted by the Catholic Institute for Nonviolence, a project of Pax Christi, the Cardinal’s message was broadcast to participants who are taking part in a 10-day international initiative that will conclude on Sep 11 with a pilgrimage to Assisi that draws inspiration from St Francis and St Clare.
“Nonviolent strategies are not a lack of defence; they are a more effective form of defence,” Cardinal Bo said in his message, pointing to civilian-based defence, unarmed civilian protection and active nonviolent resistance as ways of putting legitimate defence into practice.
Investing in peace
The Cardinal called for greater investment in diplomacy, restorative justice, early-warning peace networks and systematic de-escalation. Such approaches, he said, can protect human dignity without reproducing the logic of violence.
“True legitimate defence must be unarmed in its methods and disarming in its effects,” he explained.
This, he added, represents a broader challenge to the Church to move nonviolence beyond the status of an optional or secondary vocation and place it at the heart of Catholic life and teaching.
‘Peace is possible’
Drawing on the experience of the Church in Myanmar, Cardinal Bo spoke of a people who, despite years of conflict and displacement, continue to proclaim that “Peace is possible” and “Peace is the only way.”
He stressed that nonviolence does not mean withdrawing in the face of danger or accepting injustice. “Rather, it is a refusal to emulate the very evil we seek to eradicate,” he said, adding that choosing nonviolence requires courage.
“Nonviolence is not for cowards,” Cardinal Bo said.
The Cardinal also connected the call to nonviolence with the Gospel witness of Jesus and the legacy of figures such as Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr and emphasised that peacebuilding requires both structural change and an inner transformation of the human person.
“An unarmed peace in society is impossible without a disarming peace in the soul,” he said, calling for the rejection of fear, hatred, dehumanisation and the desire for revenge that can perpetuate cycles of violence.
Pope Leo XIV’s blessing
Participants in the Rome conference also received a message and blessing from Pope Leo XIV, delivered by Archbishop Giovanni Ricchiuti, President of Pax Christi Italy.
The gathering brings together theologians, pastoral leaders, peacebuilders, educators and practitioners to consider how Gospel nonviolence might move toward the centre of Catholic life and teaching.
The two-day conference, hosted by the Catholic Institute for Nonviolence, a project of Pax Christi International, that continues through Sep 10 with an intensive formation programme bringing together participants from different countries and conflict-affected contexts. – Vatican News
